Midgar
by Unknown123190
Summary: Everything happens in the big city. Cloud gets sent to the slums' worst school because his mother can't pay for an art academy, but he ends up finding there everything he ever dreamed of. A military recruitment campaign changes everything.
1. Chapter 1

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Author points out: It's AU, ladies n gentlemen. Partially, anyway. Actually the only big difference is that Cloud doesn't go to Midgar to join the military at first. And Genesis is gay. That hasn't actually been proven. Enjoy...? Or not. Preferably do. Then review so I'll write more.

What the hell is beta...? You're not all talking about the fish, are you? Is it important? Someone tell me. Whoever does gets a favor or something.

I don't own FFVII. Nobody ever sues but I'll say it anyway, because if it does happen to me I'm too broke to get sued.

p.s: I know nobody ever likes random characters that the author invents. I personally hate them. There are some, however, so I am sorry if you dont like them and you can ask me to remove 'em. They could die. Or immigrate. Or catch STDs. I TRIED to make them liveable :P I'm not a compulsive smoker btw, but I do find them funny.

"This isn't the art school I told you about, mom," Cloud mumbled as he stared at the glossy cerulean pamflet in his hand. He felt the urge to crumple it in his hands, to destroy it, because it wasn't what he wanted...at all.

"I know honey, but it's a free school..." said his mother nervously.

He huffed and threw the balled up pamflet across the room angrily, delighting in the way it rolled down the stairs and hit the wall at the bottom where it lay, dead. Not that it was alive to begin with. Whatever.

"I don't care if it's free," he hollered loud enough for his mother to hear him from his room. He didn't feel like looking at her as he talked, in case he felt too bad for yelling at her and took it all back or didn't follow through. He could, however, smell the bacon from the kitchen and his mouth watered shamelessly.

"I do," she snapped.

"I want to be an artist!"

"Well, I wanted to be an olympic swimmer. Am I an olympic swimmer? No. I'm making bacon alone in a two-story house and I work as a waitress at a low-rate restaurant."

He hated when his mother made a guilt swipe to get her way. It wasn't really his fault that she wasn't an olympic swimmer; she'd broken her shoulder many years ago and wasn't able to get any farther in the sport. She married his father, her competitive swimming coach, had a child, and moved to the backwater town of Nibelheim when he left her for another woman with three kids. Since she'd given up on school to consecrate most of her time to swimming, she had no diploma to show to any employers and the only place that wanted her was the only restaurant in town, a tiny thing that served spectacularily crappy food.

"I still wanna be an artist!"

"Breakfast is ready," he heard her sigh in frustration.

He put on some pants and went downstairs, purposefully stomping on the pamflet with his foot as he passed it at the bottom of the stairs, and sat down at the table. There was a plate filled with steaming bacon and scrambled eggs, but the gloomy atmosphere in the kitchen knotted his stomach and he pushed the plate sideways after a few bites. His mother was avoiding his eye as she picked precariously at her food with a fork. She was wearing a flashy yellow apron over a spotted green dress - downright embarassing. He prayed she didn't go out looking like that.

"I'm not going, mom. You can't make me," he challenged ruefully.

"You are going, Cloud. Midgar is a nice big city - you'll like it."

"Midgar is polluted and filled with pedophiles and crazy sociopaths. You really want to expose your only child to that?" he whined indignantly. Maybe he was exagerating, but there was no way in hell he was going to that cheap school in Midgar.

"There isn't any place safer than Midgar. The military is stationned there so you'll be perfectly safe. You might even meet a high-up SOLDIER there and get married," she sauntered in sudden excitement.

He glowered at her as he drank his orange juice. So he was gay! She didn't have to broadcast it all over the place like it was the most wonderful thing to hit Nibelheim since electricity. Which, by the way, wasn't even that long ago. He'd lost nearly all of his friends (and he hadn't that many to begin with) because, Nibelheim being such a redneck kind of place, being homophobic was practically genetic. Right, being pelted by rocks was loads of fun. His mother was from Midgar, a much more open place (one good thing about the damn city), so she found it perfectly alright.

"I - even if I did it wouldn't change anything!"

"It's such a pity I won't be able to have any grandchildren. Can homosexual couples adopt?"

"What? Why are you planning this now? Stop!"

"Don't be embarassedm honey, there's nothing wrong with being-"

Before she could finish her sentence he was out of the kitchen faster than an omish confronted with pre-marital sex. He climbed up the stairs and shut himself in his room, locking the door with an angry swipe. He lay down on his bed, glued the pillow to his face and groaned loudly, his fingers curling into the soft material. He could hear the rain hitting his window wetly, sliding down the glass and landing in a puddle on the windowsill. Did it ever stop raining in Nibelheim? He hoped it was dry in Midgar, at least. There, he'd found two potential good things about the big city...

He fell asleep deep in thought, the pillow still squished against his face. The rain let up some time during the night because when he woke up, albeit heavily cloudy, there was no rain in the air. He put on a dark sweatshirt and some jeans and jumped out of his bedroom window like a cat. His bare feet landed in the mud with a dull splashing sound, wetting the edge of his jeans too. He stomped around the house and headed directly to Tifa's house, which was only a couple houses away, and knocked on the back door. It was Tifa who answered, because her mother worked until late in the afternoon at the local inn.

"Cloud? For fuck's sake, put some shoes on, you're going to ruin the floors..."

He wiped his feet quickly on the edge of the door, to Tifa's exhasperation, and let himself in, bending under her extended arm. She bit her lip when she saw the mismatched muddy footprints he left on the floor but followed him up to her room anyway. When they were both seated on the bed, she patted his knee and asked why he was making complete mess of her house.

"Mom is sending me to this low-class school all the way in Midgar! It's not even an art school, it's just...free. That's it's speciality. Being free," he snorted apprehensively.

"The Mideel Creative Arts Academy is pretty damn expensive, Cloud," she pointed out, wrigling her toes around in her damp socks.

"So? I've never had anything expensive or asked her for anything. This is the one thing I really want, more than anything, and she just ships me off somewhere else entirely! I'm going to run away and live in the reactor with the wolves and the monsters."

"You can't live in the reactor, the mako fumes will burn your lungs. Besides...why don't you just go and see? It can't be all that bad, can it? It's Midgar! The big city. I bet I could open up a bar there and it can house some kind of terrorist organization--"

"This is not the time, Tifa," he cut her off apbruptly, "What am I going to do...?"

"You don't really have a choice."

The train stopped in a place that seemed totally swallowed in darkness. The sky had disapeared maybe four hours ago when they entered the massive, behemoth-ish city by train and he already missed the sunlight - although there wasn't much in Nibelheim. When he exited the train, luggage in hand, he coughed repeatedly as the thick, smog filled air entered his weak lungs and nearly choked him. For the first time in his life, he wished he had some decently functionning lungs like the other children on the train who hoped around excitedly like rabbits. Cloud eyed a blue-haired teen who was smoking near a lampost, grumbling to himself, apparently devoid of any luggage. Since he was apparently the only one around who wasn't running around or chatting animatedly, he dragged his stuff over to the boy and cleared his throat. It was only when a pair of brown eyes did he remember that he sucked at social interactions. He froze with his mouth half open like a fish.

"Can I help you?" the boy hissed, dropping the cigarette on the floor and stomping on it with his shoe. The white smoke whirled in the air in front of Cloud and he sneezed sharply. "Listen, if you can't even breathe in the slums, you're not going to last here very long."

"I can breathe just fine!" he wheezed pathetically. The boy huffed and lit another cigarette before walking away rudely. Cloud spat at him, but unfortauntely the blue-haired boy was looking away and didn't notice.

Midgar sucked already.

"Get 'n the car, little dude," a tall black man yelled at him when he failed to notice that he was the only one still standing on the platform. There were several cars lined up in the street, all filled with what Cloud could only suppose were his fellow classmates. He climbed into the same car as the blue-haired boy and twin girls, shoving his luggage next to him, and closed the car door once the black man had climbed into the front seat.

They arrived at a building that could only be described as a shabby, sad building. The walls, once made of bright red bricks, were now crumbling, mouldy and dirt-brown. The roof was anything but solid and several holes protruded from the severely broken tiles, home to nests of pidgeons and other small birds. The windows were dirty enough to pass as ciment blocks and some were even completely...not there. Just a big, gaping hole in the wall. At least there was no way it could rain since the sky had been replaced by a massive mechanical plate.

They were all ushered out of the car before said cars sped off down the road as though a monster was chasing them. They were left standing in the front yard, which had no grass thanks to the lack of sunlight, and no one had the heart to speak up anymore. That is, until a tall woman wearing a pencil skirt and a fitted jacket exited the building, clutching something that Cloud thought had disapeared like eleven hundred years ago...a ruler. And it was probably not there to measure things. She slapped it in her hand and everyone took a cautious step back.

"Why hello, children," she purred. Cloud felt the hairs on his whole body stand up like a cat's might. "Follow me inside, now."

They followed, albeit very slowly and quietly, desperate not to make any faux pas and piss her off. She eyed them with a feral smirk plastered on her face, swinging her hips as she went up the stairs to the second floor.

"I can smell your fear..." someone whispered next to his ear. And he just couldn't help himself - he screamed. He screamed in a high-pitched voice that ressembled a shriek or the cry of a bird whose tail had just been stepped on. The entire procession stopped in the middle of the hallway, and Cloud was just fast enough to see the blue-haired boy moving away from him before the woman was upon him like a tsunami.

"Do we have a problem, Johnny?" she slurred, waving the ruler in the air. A large perimeter devoid of any students formed itself around her automatically.

"That's not my name," he pointed out, confused.

"What was that, Johnny?" She had raised the volume of her voice. He simply shook his head. "Since you're so eager for attention, why don't we demonstrate the punishment policy for your classmates? Yes? How nice of you to volunteer."

He hadn't actually said a word.

And that was how he spent his first night at his new school in the slums of Midgar, his wrists tied in his back, kneeling on a large pile of glass shards as his knees and lower legs bled out for hours. It wasn't downright painful to begin with, but at some point the burning became so acute and horrible that he banged his head on the nearby chair. He hadn't understood the woman at first when she's said "I graciously provided you with this large, hard object too. Say thank you.". He was so mad at blue-haired boy that during his head-bashing session he thought of ways to have his revenge.

The next morning, a little bald man came to relieve him of his punishment and give him a bit of water. The translucide liquid smelled like rotten eggs and there were little black things swimming around in it. He gagged.

"Drink it, boy. That's as good as it gets."

Why had his mother sent him here? He remembered the pamflet, the smiling children on the cover. And the picture. How long ago had it been taken? Fifty years? She wouldn't do this on purpose, he knew, but as the bald man wrapped already soiled bandages around his bleeding knees and legs, he couldn't help but feel angry. He'd probably get infected and die, and then she'd be sorry.

He'd been allowed to skip first period to put his things in his room, which he found out he shared with another boy. Another boy who had astronomical amounts of cigarette packs lying on his bed and nightstand. Feeling rather sick, Cloud sat down on the bed and took deep breaths - only to choke on the putrid air and cough several times. Not that living with a compulsive smoker would help things. He prayed that there were smokers other than the blue-haired boy in school, or he might have to take a frighteningly high jump off the roof one day soon.

He unpacked his things - clothes, underwear, framed pictures, favorite books, portable gaming system, a parting gift from Tifa - and lay down on the bed to enjoy the next twenty minutes of freedom. He then thought of a phone, and that a phone calls people, and 'people' included his mother, and his mother could get him out of this hell. She had to. He was her only son, he was her everything! Wasn't he?

As it turned out, his roomate had a phone, a little blue thing that made somber noises when one pressed on the keys. On the first try, he forgot to punch in the area code and the extension, but on the third try he managed to get her answering machine. His heart sank when he heard the mechanical sound of his mother's voice asking him to leave a message after the beep.

"Mom? Mom! Pick up...please pick up. Mom...pick up. Please? It's horrible here! They--"

Beep. Message time over. He howled in frustration and threw the phone at the wall where it shattered and lay in fragments on the filthy floor. Yeah, brilliant. No more phone and his roomate would probably strangle him in his sleep. The school was comparable to prison in the sense that there were only two ways out: you did your time or you came out in a body bag. The latter was much shorter.

"Even the teachers here are stupid--"

By the time Cloud recognized the voice, it was a century too late. The blue-haired boy was leaning on the doorway, an even taller redhead trailing behind him and eyeing the blonde curiously. Cloud sat up in his bed and glared back defiantly, blue eyes sparkling with anger. The brown eyes trailed down his body and landed on the bandages on his legs, stained with his own crimson blood, then to the destroyed cell phone.

"Skeeter," he nudged his friend, "go on without me."

Cloud did his best to stay calm as the obviously taller, stronger and more dangerous boy stalked towards him like a feline, eyes never leaving his roomate. He stood erect near his bed, doing his best snarly-face, but all it did was make the boy crack an amused smile.

"Did you have fun last night?" he sighed after a while. He didn't sound as...aggressive as one might have expected. The boy leaned over to grab a cigarette off the nightstand and stuck it in his mouth before igniting it with the lighter he kept in his pocket.

"Why'd you get me in trouble? Go fuck yourself!" Cloud spat with a sudden outburst of courage he didn't know he had. He then proceeded to wince and cover his face with his arms to protect himself against the upcoming blow. When it didn't come, he blinked and peeked through the long appendages that were his arms.

"Am I that scary looking? You're such a wimp," he sneered as he blew a cloud of smoke in the air...away from Cloud? "Better get ready for class, Johnny."

"It's Cloud," he sneered.

"Johnny suits you better. Hey, you're buying me a new cell phone."

He was picking up the pieces, turning it in his hands before dropping them on his nightstand. Cloud noticed that he was wearing a uniform, clean and pressed, and that there was an identical one draped on top of his bed. He picked it up and cringed; navy blue jacket and tie, black pants and a white collared shirt. How could a crappy school dress up its students...preppy? He undressed down to just his underwear and put the uniform on, fumbling stupidly with the tie before tying it unfashionnably because he couldn't do it right. Only then did he notice that the blue-haired boy was waiting in the room, a new cigarette hanging from his lips, sighing boredly.

"Could you not stare at me while I'm getting dressed?"

"Shut up. Do you even know where you're supposed to go?" Cloud shook his head. "There. Think of it as an apology for getting you whipped, or whatever. You're still buying me a new cell phone. If you're going to address me for some reason, call me Blue. Don't look at me like that, it's not my goddamn real name."

But somehow Cloud never did buy him a new cell phone, and Blue never did beat up Cloud, because circumstances would have it that they became friends. Blue had loads more friends, so maybe it didn't mean much to him, but he was Cloud's only friend. A lot like it was back in Nibelheim. At least it didn't rain and the only gays who got beaten up were the...fag-tastic ones. Not subtle, shy little Cloud. No one noticed Cloud from Nibelheim, really, unless there was a chicken on his head or his backpack caught on fire.

"Why are we doing this again?"

"It's a recruitment campaign. We visit the schools and...flaunt, or something. Make kids want to come blow things up in the military. Don't talk about the bad things, Sephiroth."

"What am I to talk about, then?"

"Funny. You're funny," Zack snorted. "Don't make jokes."

"I'll make jokes if I want."

"But you're not funny."

"You just said I was."

"Gentlemen, please?" Tseng ordered from the front of the car. The Turks always rode in the front seat because they were too stuck up to ride in the back like regular people.

The car stopped in a dark street quite near the train station, skidding to a halt harshly enough to propel Zack off his seat and into the seat in front of him. He swore at the driver and so started a ridiculous argument that the Turk Commander and the General prefered to avoid by stepping out of the car. They eyed the run-down building sceptically, and Sephiroth wondered if he could catch anything lethal in this place. It certainly didn't look sanitary. He was sure he saw a colony of cockroaches crossing the sidewalk freely, as big as baby rats.

"This is...a school?" Tseng echoed the General's thoughts.

"The schools in the slums aren't well funded," he explained uneasily. He felt bad for anyone forced to attend this establishment. He'd never been to school like other children but...at least the labs had a concierge.

"We goin' in?" Zack perked as he exited the car. The driver had apparently lost the argument.

"After you, SOLDIER," Tseng mocked in a somewhat sacrastic tone.

General Sephiroth, Tseng of the Turks, Zackary Fair, Elena of the Turks and seven Shinra grunts slowly entered the gloomy complexe and waited patiently in the lobby for some kind of service. Not even slum residents dared to make such a large group of Shinra personel wait unless they had some kind of personal death wish on their heads. The receptionnist's desk was empty behind the bullet-proof glass and a little sign was glued to said glass: GONE TO PEE. BRB. Sephiroth sneered.

"Charming."

"I never claimed it to be high class, General," Tseng chuckled softly. Elena was glued to his side, eyeing the SOLDIERs defiantly, her head held high as if to announce to the world that she was better for being a Turk. Not even the General could scare her.

Sephiroth didn't normally do things like this. He usually went on missions all over the continent, and some times on another one, or calmly completed paperwork until it was time to go to bed. Sometimes Genesis came over and tried to trick him into having sex, even knowing that it wouldn't happen. Other times it was Angeal who simply sat on his couch and drank beer, offering silent companionship. If it was Zack who knocked, the door usually stayed closed and the Puppy would talk to the door for half an hour before heading home. This time, something different had taken place, and he wasn't entirely sure what. It might have been some insistent desire within him to do a bit of good, a little something that was optional but that he did anyway. It could have been that Genesis was going to come over that day with his favorite 'boy-toy' to try and lure Sephiroth into a threesome as afternoon activity. Possibly the grand annual budget meeting that was scheduled to transpire on that day that convinced him to go down to the slums and enourage children to devote their lives to Shinra.

A tall woman wearing a fitted jacket and a navy blue pencil skirt entered the room, clutching a ruler and waving it boredly. She went into the receptionnist's office to grab some papers when she spotted the visitors; she hurried out of the office, smiling seductively at the men and glaring openly at the women, and hid the papers behind her back.

"Welcome, gentlemen! How can I help you?" she purred, eyeing Zack like a hungry predator. The First class smiled awkwardly back at her, inwardly cringing.

"I'm sure we called ahead to announce our visit," Tseng cut in quickly.

"Did you? Well, let's not keep you waiting...what can I do for you?"

"Could you gather the children in the auditorium?" Tseng ordered once more. He seemed to have everything under control, so Sephiroth let his shoulders relax and looked around the place. The floors were old and damp despite the lack of rain, the wallpaper hung in tatters off the walls in an ugly flower pattern and the railing on the stairs lacked poles here and there. It was a miracle no one had shut the place down. He was brought back to reality when he heard the woman laugh hysterically as if Tseng had just asked her if her skin was blue.

"Auditorium? I'm afraid there is no such place. However, I'll call them out to the back yard. That should be of sufficient size, wouldn't you say?" she turned her attention to the General, batting her long eyelashes at him.

"I can't. I haven't seen it."

She blinked, frowned, then turned to leave with a curt goodbye.

"I think you made her mad," Zack snorted.

"What did I do?" His question, however, went unanswered.

They heard a great clamour from upstairs, a lot like a herd of elephants travelling. There was no whisper of teenage voices wringing through the halls, no sound of people pushing one another rudely to get ahead. An orderly herd of elephants. A small bald man came to get them and they took a small hallway to enter the back yard, filled with teenagers smoking or enjoying the view of their shoes. When the Shinra personel entered the back yard, whatever sounds were coming from the children ceased, and three hundred sets of eyes fixed themselves upon them. Zack scratched the nape of his neck, Elena fiddled with her gun and the grunts made a half circle around the higher-ups. Only the General and the Commander remained impassive.

Zack being the most outgoing of them all, he spoke for all of them so that the others only served as decorative backgrounds. He was quite good at making friends, so nearly every spectator listened to him and there were no tomatoes flying in his direction. He laid out everything that was good about Shinra, and was so thorough about it that even Sephiroth forgot he was already General and considered joining the military. Elena gaped in wonder at him and leaned towards Sephiroth discretely.

"He's good, isn't he? I wouldn't be surprised if the entire school joined up, teachers and all."

He agreed with a small nod. Zack was demonstrating some rather impressive sword moves, feeding off the '_ohhhhhh_'s and '_aaahhhhhh_'s of the crowd. His agility, speed and strength were enough to impress anyone with eyes and the children were simply hypnotized, cigarettes and shoes forgotten. When Zack finally ended his speech and show, he grabbed Sephiroth's wrist and wrenched him forward.

"If you get really good at it and join SOLDIER, you'll get to work for this guy. If you think what I can do is cool, wait 'till you see what he can do."

Sephiroth couldn't see what good saying that would do, but it worked. All eyes turned to him; green eyes, blue eyes, brown eyes. Some happy, some admiring, scared, impressed, curious, anxious, shy. He wondered if any of these children would ever become a First, a trusted companion of his and a war mate. He couldn't smile at them but he did nod solemnly, like he would greet a respected co-worker or executive.

"We hope to see all of you soon!" Zack cheered after a quick farewell speech. Sephiroth was about to turn away when something orange caught his eye; then the screaming started and the children scooted away from one particular boy who, incidentaly enough, was on fire. No - his backpack was on fire. He was spinning around in a circle, unsure what was going on, blue eyes wide and terrified. One boy was standing near him screaming "DON'T MOVE, JOHNNY. STOP SPINNING FOR FUCK'S SAKE". But the little blonde couldn't see the fire, only feel the heat on his back, and Sephiroth could smell the fear reeking off him. The blue-haired boy reached out, pulling at the blonde's shirt, hair and limbs, trying to keep him still.

Before he knew what was happening, Sephiroth had jumped over the crowd and landed mere centimeters from the boy and his ignited backpack. He easily stopped the spinning with his arm, forced the boy to face him and easily yanked the flaming thing off the shaking shoulders just before it was able to catch onto the boy's hair or shirt. The things was ripped clean off and when it landed on the floor, the blue-haired boy put the fire out with his foot, dropping his cigarette in the process. The boy was still shaking like a leaf, sweating collecting on his small brow, and whether it was from the fire or the fact that he was being held at arm-length by the General of the army was a mystery. Sephiroth loosened his grip on the lean shoulders and took a moment to admire those pure blue eyes, quivering from fright. Were they always so emotionnal?

"Shit Strife, watch out. What kind of moron sets fire to his own backpack? You really want to attract attention that badly?" someone yelled from the crowd. Sephiroth arched an eyebrow.

"Shut up Saik. It was my fault," he muttered the last part for Cloud to hear, "That guy was pretty good. Wish I could do that...forgot the cigarette. Didn't know it could start a fire."

Sephiroth wanted to tell the boy to use his pronouns, but was interrupted when the woman and three other teachers burst through the crowds and began yelling at the little blonde who didn't seem to fully comprehend what the hell was happening to him.

"Strife, get down to the basement now. You know where the glass is, right? You've been there enough. Make it twelve hours too. How could you embarass me like this?" she seethed, flipping her long hair over her shoulder before smiling appologetically at Sephiroth. "Please excuse him, General. I'm not sure his wires are plugged in where they should be. We'll take care of him."

And with that she ripped the boy out of the silver-haired General's hands, grabbing him by the hair. His head was yanked backwards in an almost painful angle and he made a guttural sound that sounded a lot like "help". The compulsive smoker made a move to explain himself but he was shushed and ignored promptly.

"Why don't you listen to what actually happened?" he rumbled as calmly as possible. The woman froze half in whacking her prisonner with that infernal ruler and pivoted to face the General.

"He'll just lie, I assure you. He loves attracting attention. He's queer, General, he probably wanted you to notice him; but be assured, I can control him."

Sephiroth's eyebrow twitched menacingly, because if there was anything that annoyed him beyong understanding it was discriminatory people. He was even more annoyed because his own sexual orientation went both ways - although no one in their right mind would scold him about it. So he, in turn, tore the boy (who was a bit lost in the equation) away from her before she could take him away to do whatever.

"Let's all forget what just happened and leave him be. There's no harm done, so there's no reason to punish him."

With that, General Sephiroth turned around and rejoined his companions who hadn't been able to follow the conversation due to how far they were from the scene. They eyed him curiously but never asked what had happened......except for Zack, because he was Zack, and Zack does things that really only Zack can do.

"You like him don't you?"

"I don't know him, Zackary."

"But you think he's cute. Did you get lost in his big blue eyes? Did you fall in _loooooove_?"

"Be quiet, I have a headache."

"Sephiroth and school boy sittin' in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes mariage, then--"

"Stop acting like a four year old now and I'll pay for dinner at any restaurant you want with that slum girlfriend of yours."

"Really?"

"Shut up."

But, somehow Sephiroth just couldn't stop thinking about the little blonde with those expressive, bright blue eyes. He was sure that he'd be punished anyhow, and wondered how painful it would be. It was his fault, as well. Maybe if he hadn't stepped in it wouldn't have been as bad. He felt something like guilt swell in his chest and made a face that, consequently, caused Elena to start laughing and pointing. How he hated the Turks.

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Reminder to review :D If it's crap tell me and I won;t continue xD


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks to everyone about the beta thing...not at ALL what I thought it was. I thought it was like...an encryption method so people don't steal your story.**

**Btw if there are spelling mistakes I'm RLY sorry, because I hate them too, but this computer doesn't have fucking SPELL CHECK and I'm to lazy to dictionnary it up for three hours.**

**And no Cloud doesnt smoke xD If he smoked he would die. Blue will die too but not now. He has better lungs haha.**

**Review plz :)**

**p.s: the ending is in italic. I DO NOT KNOW WHY. It doesnt wanna revert to normal writing. Sorry, I know its retarded. No it's not some sort of flashback or an emphasis on that part of the story. It's random italic. Thank you xD**

Fall went by quickly enough, and then it was winter: snow, ice and all. Of course, there wasn't much warm clothing to go around with, but thanks to the Plate, there was no snow in the slums. Just cold, biting wind. It snowed greatly in Nibelheim for most of the year, so Cloud was happy to find out that there would be none for his entire stay at the cheap slums' school, and displeased to hear that they would be going on a field trip. Not to visit a museum, no; not even to explore a historical site. Oh no, they were taking a fascinating train ride up to the Plate to make snow angels for four hours while the teachers watched over the grudgingly while sipping coffee. It was both inexpensive and uneducative, which fit the school pretty well in anyone's opinion. At least scarves were being distributed to everyone for the event, as generously paid by Shinra.

"I've never seen the snow," Blue said once, on the morning of the field trip. The scarf they'd given him was the mosr awful color of yellow one could possibly imagine, but at least he had a decent black winter coat. It was stolen goods but he didn't care much.

"I have. I spent half my life in it. It's not fun, so don't _smile_."

He did stop smiling, but only because he realized that he was. Smiling was not his...thing. Smoking was his thing.

"Quit complaining, Johnny. We get to see the Shinra building, the shops, the fancy restaurants..." he said with a deep sigh.

"You actually sound excited about something," Cloud remarked half-heartedly, wrapping his blue scarf tightly round his neck. He seemed to be the only one around who knew how to tie it like a decent human being. "What's so great about the Shinra building, anyway? I hear it's this dark skyscraper."

"You remember the SOLDIERs who came a few weeks ago?"

Cloud hesitated; it was still a bit of a sensitive subject. He'd made a total ass of himself in front of the most influencal man on the Planet and his co-workers. Not his favorite memory.

"Yeah."

"I was thinking about joining. Seems fun, and plus if I get good at it people'll respect me," he huffed, playing with his lighter absent-mindedly.

"You don't need to shoot people to get respect, you know. You could become..." he paused. His mind was drawing blanks.

"Exactly. Besides, the army feeds us and clothes us better than this place," he argued.

"I thought you didn't give a damn," Cloud laughed. He glanced down nervously at his very thin shirt that would do nothing to save him from the cold.

"I lie. What are you gunna do? Become a tax attorney?"

Cloud frowned, fishing under his bed sheets for the candy bar he'd stashed under there to hide from the nosy teachers and other staff members. He pulled it out and crammed it into his back pocket, careful not to squish it too much.

"I'm gunna be an artist!"

"...whatever."

There was a sudden, loud knock on the doorframe and both boys turned to stare at the woman standing at the doorframe (I need not say which woman it happens to be). She was wearing a very pretty, albeit awfully short, skirt...to go play in the snow. Her own scarf looked like she's made a special trip up to the Plate to buy from an expensive designer shop, and Cloud saw Blue eyeing it enviously. He was right: he could get a lot of money for it.

"Do I look like a babysitter? Hmmm?" she inquired, although it was clearly a rhethorical question, "Get your asses downstairs before I kick them there. And Johnny, you look ridiculous."

They watched her walk off in her high heels, Cloud tugging at his scarf angrily. The wind outside was blowing fiercely, causing the windows to tremble and shake. There was a little hole in their window that let the cold air in, but at least they had one. Some of the others had to make a wall out of their personal belongings to keep the cold weather outside.

"She's always so bright and cheerful in the morning," Blue remarked stiffly.

"Isn't she?"

The train took them up to the Plate directly, without any further stops. They exited the train to find themselves in a huge winter landscape, covered in a blanket of white powder. Some of the children who had lived in the slums since their birth gasped and jumped, trying to catch some snowflakes in their hands, only to find them melting instantly upon contact. Blue tried to light up a smoke, but unfortunately his lighter would not produce a flame thanks to the heavy wind. He groaned and threw the unlit thing into the snow for good measure. As for Cloud, he simply stood still near the train, shivering with disgust as his shirt was properly soaked within minutes. At least his neck was warm.

They were left on their own by the teachers who decided they would go have coffee at a nearby shop. Everyone was surprised to find that they were actually allowed to go...anywhere they pleased. No restrictions except to be back in four hours sharp or the train would leave and they'd have to live on the streets - which, incidently, some kids actually considered.

"Hey, Johnny...I'll see you around, okay?" Blue yelled over the wind before running off with a large group of guys, all having similar lighter issues.

He realized then that he had no one to hang with...so he trotted down the empty street and entered an alley situated between a wutain restaurant and a car store, almost too narrow for him to pass. He was pleasantly surprised to find that even the bricks were clean with no grime or unknown liquids clinging to it. On the other side of the alley was another street, very large and filled with people walking around, all wearing decent clothing. When he walked out and joined the crowds, people were looking at him funny. Well, he did probably smell. And his scarf just did not match the rest of his outfit. He glared back defiantly at anyone who crossed paths with him and soon enough he was being completely avoided on the sidewalk.

He ended up stranded on a much smaller street where the lamposts had burned out along its length. The clouds covering the sky allowed no light to pass through so it was almost like nighttime outside. Cloud allowed himself to take a seat on a snow-covered bench next to an empty garbage can, sighing and looking up at the sky. He could see the biggest tower in the city, not very far away in fact, towering above everything else around it. The red Shinra logo shined from its top like a warning sign. He wondered for the umptenth time why in the world everyone wanted to join the Shinra military.

"Look at the...the 'il boy...whadaya mean where? Right there. The piano...no no, I mean the bench. On the bench. 'e's sittin', retard. B'ue scar...scarf."

Cloud turned his head to see five men in uniform coming his way, staggering heavily and slurring. Dead drunk. As they came closer, the blonde was able to see the Shinra logo flashing across their shoulder and their guns wagging at their side. It was probably the guns that kept him from running off in fright. What kind of weapon did he have? A brain-fryingly ugly fashion sense?

"He's...cuuuuuute. I wan 'im. Give 'im to meeeeh. James, less get him."

"The boss...commander will be mad. We gotta get back...t'work..." the man who had been talking fell on the floor and began snoring. His partners ignored him and advanced in Cloud's direction, giggling and jeering. The teenager was stuck to his seat, breathing hard, his fingers wound tightly around the bench plank. If they decided to 'keep him', what could he do? He could scream, but they'd keep him silent or even hurt him further. He opted for keeping his body as still as a statue.

"You got a...names, girl? No, boy...sor...ry. Names?" Cloud had never seen someone so intoxicated in his life. Then again, Nibelheimw wasn't exactly one big party. He prefered not to answer.

"Answer 'im, boy. Wait, noooo, doesn't matter. Can I touch y...ouuu?"

"Please don't," Cloud panicked. Even though he was freezing cold, he was sweating all over and his body was going from cold to hot several times each minute. When he said the city was filled with pediphiles, he'd been joking! Why did fate take him seriously? Nobody else did!

Of course, the drunken soldiers didn't care much for his opinion, and he was yanked up from the bench. His shirt was unceremoniously tugged upwards and the cold air hitting his warm skin made him hiss. One of the men, as he'd thought, put one hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. He began to struggle, kicking his legs around until someone grabbed them and kept them still. He trashed with his arms, trying to hit one of his assailants in the groin, but hands forced them behind his back and held them there. At least he wasn't showing them a good time, although clearly they were enjoying it anyway, giggling and fondling wherever they pleased. Cloud tried to scream, sure, but the gloved hand only squeezed tighter when he did, and a small blade was pressed to his neck. That effectively shut him up.

He tried to yell again when one of them, a man with a scars marring his triangular face, pulled his pants down to his ankles on one quick movement and pressed their bodies together. He was quickly assessing which was best: blade or getting raped. Blade or rape, blade or rape, blade or rape...

He was too young to die. He wasn't an artist yet!

The men who had been covering his mouth, too drunk to think straight, let go due to his excitement. It was as though he completely forgot that his victim was trying to run away and his hands instead went underneath Cloud's underwear. Cloud, thankfully, still had a clear brain and he yelled out once, quite loud, before the hand slapped over his mouth again and the men began shouting insults at him. The blade pressed harder against his throat, the metal cold.

"Men," a deep voice sliced the thick atmosphere like a knife, and suddenly all there was were five men with their cold hands on a boy who was frozen on the spot. The soldiers backed away from the boy and Cloud fell to the ground and groaned, too scared to pick himself up or his pants. At least his skin was used to the snow.

"S-sir! We were just...uh...this boy," the man was talking slowly, trying not to slurr like the alcohol was telling him to, "he tried to assult Jeremy. We were just..."

"Teaching him a lesson?"

"Yeah! That's it."

"Without his pants or shirt?"

"He wanted to get out of it by sleeping with us sir! I...swear."

Cloud couldn't hear the rest of the conversation because he zoned out, watching the snowflakes dance near his face. But when he did come to, there was only one still standing the snow, and he was horrified to find that he _knew _him. What kind of impression did this man have of him? Every time they met he was in some kind of danger situation. The boots came nearer and stopped close to him, half burried in the snow.

"Are you alright?" the deep voice rumbled. What was his name again...? Oh yes. Sephiroth.

All he could do was nod.

"I'll pull your pants up now," the General announced a second before gloved hands touched his leg lightly, causing Cloud to jump involuntarily. There was a moment when Sephiroth seemed to be waiting for the boy to let him continue, so Cloud groaned and nodded. His pants were slowly put back on and buttoned properly before the hand lay down on his shoulder, shaking him slightly.

"Don't fall asleep. You shouldn't go out in the snow in so little clothes."

Cloud couldn't tell if he was being scolded of worried over or even yelled at. He bring himself to care.

"Didn't have anything else...to where..." he droned, feeling very light-headed.

"If you don't warm up, you could die," the man stated dryly.

"That's okay..."

Sephiroth wasn't sure what to do. This was his men's fault, so he was responsible for punishing them and taking care of their little victim. He was more than surprised to find himself saving the boy who had been popping into his mind at random moments over the past few weeks. He didn't know how to help besides pull up his pants, because either way his clothes were much too thin to offer any protection. His skin was dangerously cold and paler than usual against the white snow. And now the boy didn't even want to be saved? No, he was just confused because of the cold. That's all it was.

When the boy lost consciousness, he decided that he couldn't just leave him there to die of frost. He gathered the boy in his arms, lifted him with ease and went back to the main street, ignoring the odd glances cast his way. The little body in his arms was limp and not doing too good from what he knew. He finally spotted an inn with a bright red roof and made his way inside, fishing around in his pocket for his wallet. He took out 500 gil and put them down on the counter, telling the man he'd be taking a room. The innkeeper arched an eyebrow when he saw General Sephiroth pay for a room and take an unconscious, clearly not old enough, teenager up in his arms.

Sephiroth lay the boy down on the bed and imediately went to turn up the temperature in the room. He closed the half-opened window and took some extra blankets from closet, laying them on top of the teenager who was mumbling softly in his sleep. Once he was sure that the blonde was warm enough, he sat down in a chair and waited. Was he overreacting...?

Almost an hour later, his PHS rang; it was Zack.

__

Where r u? Lazard keeps buggin me to find u...i got a date 2night! Im not covering for u...

He pressed the 'reply' button on the device and typed in his answer, using full words.

__

I ran into something unexpected. Do this for me, Zack, and I'll pay for a trip for two to Costa Del Sol whenever you want.

He only had to wait a minute or two for it to ring again.

__

Rly?? Aright, ill cover for u :)

He shut it off with a sigh and put it back in his pocket. He was buying Zack a lot of things lately...

The boy groaned and rolled around in the bed, cracking one blue eye open. When he saw the silver-haired man sitting across the room from him, he sat up in the bed, face turned red. He coughed a few times and meekly remembered that getting too cold was rather bad for his lungs. His coughing was painful and just hearing it must have been hurtful because Sephiroth made a face, but just a little.

"Bad lungs?" the General sounded more surprised than accusatory.

"A bit," he grumbled. Why was it that the first time everyone said to him was about his lungs? Was it that flamboyantly noticeable?

"Are you...warm enough?"

Cloud moved his toes, then his fingers and was happy to find that they moved just find. No numbness anymore. He was actually a bit hot.

"I'm fine."

"I'll deal with my men as it is approproate," Sephiroth said after a pause. Cloud looked up at him with expressive blue eyes swimming with anxiousness and uncertainty.

"Your men...?"

"The ones who assaulted you."

"Oh."

They fell into silence once more. Sephiroth thought about what to do with his men to do the boy justice and Cloud was wondering what the hell had happened to him in the past few hours. There was no way any of that crazy stuff had happened...right? He wasn't the type to get raped. No way...

"I didn't get raped," he squeaked. Sephiroth looked back at him, frowning.

"What?"

"I didn't...they didn't do anything," he explained. His face was beet red and he knew it.

"You were almost naked and they had a knife to your throat."

"I was?" Why was his memory so...foggy? All he could remember were small flashes of things that didn't seem very important to him.

"Yes...maybe you should see a therapist. One of my sargeants was raped once and he did not deal with it very well. He screamed and attacked anyone who touched him," the General mused. He was trying to tell a funny anecdote, but talking about rape to a rape victim might not have been the best thing to do, he realized. Cloud wasn't laughing.

"I'm fine. It's fine. Thank you...for saving me. I...can I repay you?"

Not that he owned anything the General might want. If he asked for sex...well, he was downright attractive so he could deal with it. But Sephiroth simply shook his head and readjusted his leather coat.

"That will not be necessary. I don't allow such behaviour within my ranks." He met Cloud's eyes with his ones and once again though how beautiful they really were..."Have you thought about joining the military?"

"No sir. I want to be an artist!"

__

I say that a lot,

Cloud thought grumpily.

"An artist?" The General asked, a bit confused. He'd never met a painter or an artist, because on the Plate there weren't many free-spirited people like that. And no one had ever said no to joining when the General himself was trying to recruit them. It was just unheard of.

"Yeah, like drawing and painting. I wanted to go to the Mideel Creative Arts Academy, but..." he trailed off, thinking that Sephiroth probably didn't give a shit where he wanted to go and what he wanted to be.

"But?"

Cloud blinked and then, to his own discontempt, he cracked a small smile that he could not retain. He couldn't remember anyone being this interested in him, and Sephiroth was just looking at him impassively. The General cocked his head sideways when he saw the smile and then, uncertainly, he smiled back...just a little. If Cloud had blinked he would have missed it.

"But it was too expensive. She sent me here instead."

Sephiroth nodded, unsure what to say. He'd never had money problems - _ever_. His kidney could probably sell for a million and a half. He'd also never had a choice as to what he would do later on in life.

__

When you grow up you'll be the General of the entire army, and you'll kill more men than all your men reunited!...no you do not have a say in the matter!

"What if--"

Sephiroth was cut off when the door flew open, result of a forceful kick, and a familiar blue-haired boy came into the room, his hair all messed up. He stared at Cloud, then at Sephiroth, and then back at Cloud. He was quiet. He took out a cigarette and just smoked there in the room.

"Isn't that bad for your lungs?" Sephiroth asked after a while, adressind Cloud. The teenager laughed nervously.

"How would you know about that?" Blue roared angrily, slamming the door shut. Cloud jumped in his bed; why was he so angry?

"...just an observation," the General growled dangerously low.

"Well go observe someone else," Blue snapped, nervously tapping his foot against the floor.

"Blue! What the hell is wrong with you? This guy - uh, General Sephiroth - saved me. And it actually is bad for my lungs..." he added mostly to himself. Sephiroth, having enhanced hearing, heard him nonetheless.

"...whatever. Let's go, Johnny. We gotta get back before the train leaves..."

Cloud did as he was told and stood up, politely folding the blankets in case the General would be staying in the room he paid for. Johnny went to wait out in the hallway and Cloud pulled down his shirt with a dry yank. He was about to duck out of the room when he heard the General stand up and dared to look over his shoulder at the tall man. He was holding a small piece of paper in his hand and his face was scrunched up in both anger and uncertainty.

"Sir...?"

The little paper was shoved into his face by the angry looking General. Cloud wondered what he'd done to make the man mad at him.

"It's my number. Call me if you need anything...if you want. It's not an order. You don't have to. On second thought, just don't."

Cloud took the paper, utterly confused.

"No, call if you want. Only if you want. If you need something..." his face was red. With anger, of course.......

"I will," Cloud perked as he went out into the hallway, his heart beating in his chest. Someone had just given him their number! That never happened to him! And it was General Sephiroth, no less.

"Why are you so happy?" Blue snapped.

"Why are you so bitchy?"

They argued all the way back, although it became friendlier as they neared the train station. Whatever it was Blue had been mad it, it was long gone by then.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N.....is at the end :D

The ceiling was possibly the most interesting part of the building. Wherever you went you could clearly see layers upon layers of spider webs crisscrossing over your head, gaping holes that dripped water whether it was raining or not and the oddest kinds of animals nesting up there. The staff never thought of buying a ladder so there was no way to clean up there anyway. There was an entire ecosystem living mere meters above their heads! 

"Could you not zone out like that? It makes me think you're on something." 

Cloud scoffed and rolled off his bed, breaking eye contact with the moth who'd been trying so hard to find a window to escape. He opened the drawer of his nightstand, pulled out a purple bottle of febreeze (which he'd bought with the meager allowance his mother sent him as an apology every month) and sprayed half of it in the air. God did it ever smell bad in their room. Not that the smoking helped or anything... 

"That smells even worse," Blue complained, closing his cell phone. He'd been talking to the cafeteria lady again. He flirted with her so she could get him cigarettes considering he didn't have enough money to fulfill his everlasting need of tobacco. She was already 40 and not doing so well in the men's department...which explained why he got her to do it so easily.

"When exactly did you start being a whiny bitch again?" He sprayed some more in the air for good measure. 

"When you started whoring," Blue snorted. 

"For the last time, he saved me from being _raped_. He just brought me to the inn so I wouldn't freeze to death. Or should I have died in the snow?" 

"Why would he stick around for an hour while you slept? I bet he molested you," the taller teenager laughed while putting a grey shirt on. 

"He's the General of an entire army! Plus, if he wanted to molest me he just would have joined in with the gang of soldiers." 

"Would the General really gang rape someone with four drunks outside in the snow? I see him more as a cozy hotel, solo kind of guy," he muttered almost darkly. 

"Why do you care anyway if I got molested? I thought the only things you were interested in were cigarettes and...yeah, cigarettes. Not even your own mother," he snorted, picking up his uniform from off the floor. He'd already lost his brand new (used) scarf for the winter and no matter how hard he looked he just could not find it. 

"...my mother's a hooker." 

He hadn't answered the first question, but Cloud decided to ignore it. It was probably nothing anyway. He pushed some underwear aside, frowning when he saw that they weren't his, and  
pulled out his mathematics book. The printing date on it was from forty-three years back, and if you flipped through it you'd see many obviously false things written in it. Instead of buying new books, the teachers simply scribbled down notes on the old pages as they came until the pages were almost entirely black with ink. 

He was flipping through it to find chapter 7 when something fell out of the book, fluttered calmly in the air before landing neatly on the floor right next to Cloud's foot. He picked it up, frowning in confusion, and turned it over.  
_General Sephiroth  
8766-24331_

There was no address on the card, he noted quickly. Maybe he didn't want stalkers swarming his apartment and installing cameras in his shower. 

"Blue, can I use your phone?" he called out, smiling slightly as he looked at the card. Just the sight of the name made him feel giddy. 

"What? No. Last time you used my phone it cost me 2000 gil for a new one. Get your own damn phone, Johnny," Blue snapped with more venom than usual. Cloud got up off and the floor to face his friend, more curious than angry. 

"What's _wrong _with you? You've been weird ever since we came back from the field trip. Did you catch something while you were there?" 

There was a long, pregnant pause before Blue got up off the bed and went for the door, stopping shortly before exiting the room and growling over his shoulder. 

"Go find a phone." 

And then he left, leaving Cloud alone in the room. He glanced over to Blue's side of the room and pouted when he saw that his roommate had smartly taken his phone along with him. Who else had a cell phone...? Oh right. He had no other friends. Cloud wondered if there were any public phones under the Plate. Probably not. If you walked around the streets of the slums with change in your pockets, by the time you did find this phone (if it existed), someone else had your change and was buying a loaf of bread. Who currently used a phone...? 

The receptionist, of course. 

The receptionist was at her desk, painting her nails a flashy, ugly pink color. Her feet were propped up on the desk, her heels pointing straight towards the front door. The phone rang several times but she merely continued to do her nails and ignored the ringing until it stopped altogether. When the little blonde student knocked on the door to her office, she glanced up at him before going back to her activity. He took a step forward, biting his lip nervously. 

"Um, hello...can I just use your phone for a minute. You...you're not using it," he tried, blushing when he stuttered. 

"Of course I'm using it! It's my job to answer the phone," she roared, nearly dropping the bottle of nail polish. 

"Yes but...not right now you're not. I'm not trying to say you don't do your job, ma'am, I just..." he hesitated, watching the woman's face. She was waiting for a convincing answer, that much was for certain. "My mother is very sick and I haven't been able to talk to her since I came here. Please, I need to talk to her!" 

He gave her his best puppy dog look, praying to every deity he could think of that it would work. The woman raised one eyebrow curiously, unsure what to do.

"What does she have?" she inquired after a while. 

"Excuse me?" 

"What's her sickness?" she asked again, with a little less patience.

"Rain syndrom!" he yelled in panic. 

_Rain syndrom...!?_ he hollered mentally. _Hello stupidity._

"Rain...syndrom?" she sniggered, ignoring yet another phone call and pressing the 'end' button when the answering machine came on and a worried mother began asking if she could talk to her son.

"It's...a very rare disease. It's only in Nibelheim, in fact. She...rain burns her skin," he whispered, willing tears to fill his eyes. A bit of moisture appeared, but no more. He had to be convincing! 

"Why doesn't she just stay inside?" the receptionist pointed out. Cloud began to sweat profusely. 

"Because she also has the worst case of claustrophobia. She can't stay inside a building for more than five minutes...at all. So she has to...go outside even when it rains. Her skin...it's all burned off. She could die, and the rainy season is coming soon..." 

That wasn't even a lie. The rainy season in Nibelheim came at an odd time, right after winter before there was another month long snowy period. It rained a lot, but instead of burning his mother would probably be watching television while drinking some tea. Maybe she would do some gardening.... 

"Oh. That's unfortunate." 

Cloud blinked, realizing that she believed him. She didn't seem particularly affected by the thought of his mother dying, but when she got up from her seat and went for the door, he knew he'd done something properly for once. 

"You got five minutes boy," she called out before slamming the door shut behind her. 

He let out a long breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He took a second to let his face cool down and revert to its usual pale, milky color. When he could no longer hear his heartbeat drumming in his chest, he sat down in the woman's chair and picked up the receiver. He dialled the number written in a small font on the white card and shifted nervously in his seat as it rang. Once, twice, thrice... 

"General Sephiroth speaking." 

He sounded both so formal and impassive that Cloud might as well have been talking to an automatic message. The blonde almost slammed the phone down at that moment. 

"It's um...J-Johnny speaking. No, it's Cloud...Cloud Strife speaking, sir." 

How could he forget his name, of all things? He willed himself to die of embarrassment but when he opened his eyes five seconds later, he was still in the receptionist's office, the receiver glued to his ear. 

"Cloud," the General confirmed slowly, "I didn't think you would call." 

Cloud blushed, wondering if he'd done the right thing or not. What was he calling for anyway? He just...wanted to hear from the man again. He had no reason to call, nothing interesting to say. The General would think he was a weird horny teenager calling him for no apparent reason. 

"Neither did I, sir," he mumbled half to himself. He could smell the sharp scent of the nail polish still open on the desk and wrinkled his nose.

"You recovered, I hope?" the man on the other line asked when he was sure the blonde wouldn't say anything else.

Cloud would have pointed out that there wasn't much to recover from, but it might have come across as impolite. He just grabbed the phone tighter in his hand, his mind whirring as it tried to find a satisfactory snap answer – quickly.

"Actually, uh," he took a deep breath, "One of your men…the ones that attacked me…they took something if mine. It's…it's really important."

_What is it, stupid?_ He hissed at himself. Unfortunately, Sephiroth was thinking somewhere along those lines as well.

"What is it? I'm sure I can get it back for you," he offered, clearing his throat. He wasn't used to having...personal calls. At all. Zack didn't count because he never picked up the phone or read the texts unless the title was "I'M DYING HELP ME".

"It's…well, you know, it's very important," he stressed, trying to buy time. "It's…my mom gave it to me before she…you know…died," he finished triumphantly.

He then realized that he was digging himself into a rather large, dark hole and that it was only getting bigger. If the General found out how badly he was lying just to see him he'd never speak to Cloud again. Of course if he so much as glanced at his files – or the drawer containing his mail – he'd know that his mother was alive and kicking.

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that," he murmured uncomfortably. "But I can't get it back unless you tell me what it is."

_Of course you can't…_He thought as the receptionist knocked on the glass and motioned for him to hurry up. He smiled nervously and nodded, trying to look afflicted by sadness.

"It's a bracelet." Wow…..gay.

"A…bracelet? Alright. What does it look like?"

"It's silver. And it has a little dent in it on the inside," he sputtered, his brain completely shut off at that point. He was already lying; he might as well see it through to the end.

"I'll find it, Cloud, I promise," the General said with sudden warmth; Cloud shivered, ignoring the receptionist's annoyed knocks on the glass with her bony knuckles.

"Okay…" he chirped, too dazed to articulate any more.

"Is there I number I can reach you at?" Sephiroth inquired softly; he was busy signing a release form for an increase in the weapon's budget and he was having a hard time concentrating on his work.

"Yeah – I mean yes." Wait. "Actually no. No there isn't."

"But you said yes –"

"I meant no. I mean…I have a phone but it doesn't work," he blurted out, a blush taking over his face. The receptionist was giving him the finger.

"We're talking right now," the General pointed our coldly. Why did the boy call him if he wanted to be rid of him so much…? He was getting slightly ticked off and got the feeling he was being used – and Sephiroth was never used by anyone.

"This is my friend's phone. He doesn't know I'm using it. My phone…it doesn't work. It's broken."

He waited, sweating as his lies made a pile on his shoulders, weighing him down. Why couldn't he ever tell the truth? Why couldn't he say "I wanted to talk to you – maybe see you"? Because he's a nervous wreck, that's why.

"I see. Well…why don't we meet at the Wutain restaurant near the train station in three days? It's close to the…school you attend, if I remember correctly."

"Okay!" he piped, all the weight of his lies disappearing as happiness set in, blinding reason entirely.

They said goodbye and Cloud finally set the phone down, glancing at the receptionist. She was miming his death by her hands, her pink nails flashing horribly under the cheap light overhead. He exited her office, biting his lip. He was just too happy to be put down at the time.

"Thanks for the phone!" he yelled before she could yell at him, as she was no doubt about to do. He climbed the stairs and sprinted all the way back to his room, too ecstatic to care about the bored or irritated looks thrown at him by the students hanging out in the hallway. He barrelled into the room and jumped onto the bed, hugging the pillow tightly to his chest. Just as he was about to explode of happiness – hello, he was going to a restaurant with the General of the entire army – he froze and almost died of shock.

There was no such bracelet. Of course the man would find out.He had no money to go to the restaurant – he'd spent it all on febreezeHis mother wasn't dead. Not even close to. Although it probably didn't matter, he did not own a broken phone.

_I'm screwed._

**This is a well defined line separating two separate parts and two times. **

"Go over this again? What I heard was ridiculous."

Cloud threw a pillow, the one he'd hugged so ecstatically a few days ago, at Blue's head, cursing when it missed painfully. Blue scoffed and threw it back at him, nearly toppling off the bed as he bent backwards to get it. He had an earphone stuck in his left ear and his iPod was practically falling out of his pocket. For the umpteenth time, Cloud wondered where Blue got all that stuff when he didn't work or have rich parents to send him any money. Maybe he stole.

"I need you to give me about 800 gil so I can go eat at a wutain restaurant with the General – oh, and you need to cover for me. You know we're not allowed to go out without authorization. And by the way, do you have a silver bracelet and the phone I broke on our first day here?"

"Johnny, you know I'm all up for breaking rules, but I won't cover for you while you go whoring for the General," he hissed, chewing his gum violently.

"Okay, my name is not – whatever! I'm not whoring, I swear. Do I look like a whore?" he retorted.

"You kinda do," the taller teenager snorted, flashing him a smile.

"Shut up. I just…I wanna see him. That's all. Not hook or whatever you call it. I just…I'll pay you back, I _promise,_" he whined pathetically, throwing himself on the floor and grabbing onto Blue's leg, giving him his best teary-eyed look. "I want to be looooooved." He tried for serious but ended up cracking up halfway. Blue made a face and retracted his leg, seemingly unfazed by the look.

"Well then you don't need _him_." He spat but with less venom than he clearly meant. He looked away from his friend's face. "If I do this will you be happy?" he muttered after a while.

"Huh? Didn't quite catch that." He cocked his head sideways.

"I said 'If I do this will you do my homework for a month?', fool," he laughed stiffly, fishing into his pockets and pulling out some gil. He waved it in front of Cloud's nose like you would offer a treat to a dog.

"Yes."

The gil was transferred and Cloud smiled brightly, hugging the gil to his chest and singing in his happiness. Blue turned around, headed for the window and lit yet another cigarette, slumping his shoulders. Cigarette plus gum – ugh.

Fifteen minutes later Cloud was dressed in whatever half decent clothes he could sniff out of his drawers, the gil taped to the inside of his pant pocket to ensure its safety, a smile glued to his face. Blue had gone out a while ago, promising no one would know he was gone. He also added that no one really cared, but he didn't laugh when he said it and Cloud was a bit annoyed. He just seemed pissed off for some unfathomable reason.

He went out the front door since no one was, as Blue had predicted, paying attention to him. Thankfully the receptionist – who didn't fail to give him the finger whenever he passed by – was out for lunch and a teacher was replacing her, watching tv as he indulged in a huge sandwich. The wind outside was cold, albeit not as much as on the Plate, so he half ran all the way to the train station which, unfortunately, wasn't as close as the General remembered. It took him a good half hour to get there and by that time his toes were freezing in his cheap shoes.

The restaurant was in decent shape for a slums' establishment, but there was no way in hell this was up to the General's standards. Anything – and I mean anything – over the Plate could beat the place. There was a mangy dog gnawing at a dead rat's body next to the front door and one of the windows had broken recently, the glass shards still lying on the sidewalk. There was a girl at the door trying to attract customers, and she immediately attracted his attention: she wore her long brown hair in a braid and it was tied with a pink ribbon. Her green eyes flashed as they dived into his.

"You! Young man! Come in and taste some of the slums…uhm…the slums best coffee!...wait, is that right?...hummm…please come here," she pleaded, entwining her fingers together as if praying. He didn't have the heart to tell her that he'd go in whether her display was divinely perfect or not. "You need to come in, alright? The food's good, I swear! I'm not very good at attracting customers, you see, but I need this job right now. Could you…could you tell the staff how good I was? Please?" she begged.

"I…yeah, sure. Your name is…?" he scratched the back of his head slowly. Her green eyes sparkled with mirth when he accepted.

"Aerith Gainsborough."

He nodded shyly and stepped inside after promising again that he would definitely tell the staff about her. He stepped in and was relieved to find that there was a decent heating system inside, and hopefully the redness plastered on his face would fade by the time the General came – if he wasn't already there. Cloud was ten minutes late…

He spotted Sephiroth at the cleanest looking table, eyeing a yellow spot of an unknown substance disdainfully. He clearly had no desire to be here and Cloud realized that he came all the way down just for him…awesome! He nearly ran over to the table and slid into the booth, noticing the rough, coarse texture of the cushions. Sephiroth looked up and gave him a smile but genuine smile.

"I was beginning to think you'd forgotten about me," he rumbled. If the redness from the cold was gone from the blonde's face, it was back now, although for a different reason.

"No, I just…got lost."

"I should have picked a place closer to your school. I had the wrong one in mind," he excused himself, and Cloud wondered briefly how often this man apologized. Maybe he was the first one to hear it. But this was not the moment to be fangirling.

"The weather's nice outside, so it was okay."

Sephiroth raised one eyebrow but shrugged it off. After all, the boy was from Nibelheim (okay, so he'd taken a little peek at his files – just enough to see his age and hometown) and from what he knew it was very cold down there. Maybe his skin was thicker than people in Midgar.

Before their conversation could push forward, a waitress came over and handed them a menu. She asked for their drinks; Cloud ordered water (cheap) while Sephiroth ordered their best wine – which, to his discontent, was the worst one you could find at any self-respecting place over the Plate. Just when the girl was about to run off, Cloud called her back, face red.

"The girl outside she…she's doing a really good job. I wasn't even going to come in but she was just so convincing…" he tried to be as convincing as possible.

"Aerith?" she laughed, "How much did she pay you to say that? Don't worry, I'll tell her you put in a good word, but we all know she doesn't know what she's doing. The owner is going to fire her tonight anyway," she finished before walking off, chuckling to herself. Cloud felt bad for the girl standing out in the cold, trying to attract customers…

Sephiroth didn't ask him about the odd girl standing outside and went straight for the point, just like he might do at a meeting.

"I asked all the men and they swore they didn't take your bracelet. I tried to force it out of them but they wouldn't tell me. I'm afraid they most certainly sold it already," Sephiroth lowered his head slightly as if apologizing. His neck went stiff, offering that maybe he didn't do this regularly.

"That's okay-" he was cut off when the General waved a hand at him. He pulled out something shiny and, even to the untrained eye, _ex-pen-sive. _The light reflected off its surface when he held it up and then handed it to the stunned teenager, his cat-like eyes glued to blue ones. Almost like was observing.

_I lied to him…and now he's gone ahead and spent money to buy something for me that I don't deserve because he feels responsible._

"That's not necessary," he argued, not making a move to take it from Sephiroth's hands.

"It is. They're my men and they took something from you. It's my duty to do all in my power to make things right."

Maybe Sephiroth did his little bit of lying too; maybe he didn't care much if his men stole, because soldiers will be soldiers. Soldiers are rowdy, there's no way around it. The fact that it was an object from his dead mother did change things, but not by much. He saw it in a jewellery store (between us, he may have made the trip just for that) and thought he might like it…even if it cost a whopping 30 000gil. Cloud didn't have to know that. Seeing what school he came from, no doubt he didn't bathe in luxury like Sephiroth did. He could be uncomfortable with such a high cost so he'd avoid the question if it came up.

Cloud took it reluctantly, aware that it was wrong but also happy. It wasn't the manliest of things but it suited his personal tastes anyway. How did the General know? He smiled at the silver-haired warrior, pouring all his regret and joy into it.

As they ate and chatted a bit stiffly (there wasn't much in common to work with), Cloud got the sinking feeling that he'd just dived head first into the thirty meter deep hole he'd dug – a.k.a his grave.

**I should have called the story Liar. But I don't have a plan in mind so I had no idea it would turn like this…Sorry for the late update, I guess? R&R as usual!!! I don't know what's good about it – or how to make it better as a matter of fact. I'm not in love with my Sephiroth…I'm doin something wrong t_t**

**Xs and Os.**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Why is chapter 3 in italics? What. The. Fuck? Like...why? Ugh...it's annoying. I feel incompetant for not even being able to un-italic a story. That's like your basic computer knowledge. Whatever...**

**Don't forget to R&R, right?**

**Someone asked me once how Blue knew where to find Cloud in ch.2...and the truth is...he has superpowers. :D. So yeah. Awesome, right?...yeah.**

When Zack found out – thanks to the stalking Turks – that Sephiroth had lunch with the blonde student from the slums, the General was convinced that he'd never shut up. Ti make matters worse, he decided to bring it up in the middle of a very important, albeit boring, meeting concerning a future massive deployment. The President was making a speech on the importance of keeping a hard front when Zack leaned over towards him, lips curved upwards in a smile.

"Cole told me you had a date last Friday," his second-in-command cooed with exaggerated excitement.

Sephiroth willed him to give up and roll away in his little leather swivel chair; no such luck. Why the executive board even wanted Zack at these meetings was beyond him. He didn't actually listen or say anything constructive.

"Are you going to see him again? You should bring him some flowers. Since Aerith got fired from that job at the restaurant, she's been working for a florist…I think she finally found her calling. I was beginning to thing she wasn't cut out for…well, anything, but now I…"

Sephiroth zoned out, allowing his friend to monologue about his girlfriend with himself while the General tried to focus on the task at hand. Scarlet was up now, swishing her hips as she talked about the weapon inventory for the mission. She paused when Heideggar grabbed her ass as she passed and slapped him instinctively across the cheek. A red handprint bloomed on his face and Shinra glared disapprovingly at the two executives. Sephiroth hated no one more than the boasting, selfish Scarlet, but at the very least he admired her…fire.

He yelped in a most unbecoming way when a pair of sharp nails pinched the skin of his forearm viciously. After quickly apologizing to the rapidly growing angerball that was President Shinra, he turned his attention to Zack.

"Why do you ruin everything for me?" he moaned. Zack snorted.

"Quit being such a baby."

Insulted, Sephiroth raised his head, hiding his face from the executives' view with his long hair. He glared angrily ay Zack, cat-like pupils narrowed.

"Why does Cole know about that?" he mumbled after a long pause.

"He's a Turk. He just _knows_."

"Is he stalking me?"

"Probably."

"Tseng's orders…"

"Maybe."

Sephiroth growled and shot the Turk Commander, who was being attentive across the table, a withering glare. Tseng turned just in time to catch his eye and blinked. He shook his head and shrugged, which only made the General angrier.

"What did he say?"

"Nothing! Just that you had a date with Cloud Strife, 16, O+ blood type, virgin, undiagnosed lung issues, low class, and then you gave him a super expensive bracelet because you're secretly just a big fuzzy teddy bear."

Sephiroth checked to make sure that no one was paying attention to them before grabbing Zack by the collar of his SOLDIER uniform, pulling his face closer to his until their noses touched. Zack attempted to look away from the angry, angry eyes spearing through his head, but was too close to do so.

"What'd you call me?" he snarled.

"..a big, manly man."

The General let go.

"Good boy."

"…so he really has lung problems, huh…" Sephiroth muttered to himself.

"Uhhh, yeah. Nibelheim doesn't have basic medical care, so he's never been examined. For some reason it's in his file anyway."

"He should get himself checked out."

"Aww, you're worried about him!"

The second-in-command's meeting ended with a large foot-print on the side of his head, his body sprawled on the ground in a temporary state of unconsciousness. The Turk trainees dragged his body out of the room, and no one in the room made a fuss for it was a common occurrence.

While the executives drawled on about military and monetary issues, Sephiroth's mind drifted far away from the stuffy conference room. He wondered if Cloud was doing alright sharing a room with a chain-smoker. Could he even handle the smog? It was pretty intense in the slums, because that was where Shinra dumped all its trash.

He still hadn't found the teenager's stolen item, which he'd secretly continued to look for. However, he'd been convinced while questioning his men that they hadn't, in fact, taken anything from him, even drunk. He'd probably lost it in the snow on his field trip, before or after the assault. If it really was given to him by his late mother, he couldn't possibly be satisfied with a replacement, no matter how expensive it was. He wondered briefly how she died…maybe he'd take the time to read the boy's file fully.

He realized an hour later, when everyone left the room and left him sitting there, his head in the clouds, that he'd been daydreaming about a student living in the slums for the larger portion of the meeting. Where had his indestructible calm and concentration gone?

With a sigh he exited the empty room and took the road back to his apartment, which was on the 76th floor. The only downside to living so high up, excluding the goddamn long elevator ride, was the fact that he always had to get off in the labs to take the elevator that led to his floor. He hated the lab's white sterile walls, the cages filled with roaring or screaming beasts, the pale-faced scientists and most of all, he hated seeing Hojo's slimy mug. He still remembered the man cackling as he crawled on the floor, clutching the bullet-wound in his leg, which he'd acquired when he tried to run away from his prison. As punishment, Hojo had injected him with a drug that stopped the tissues in his body from healing, so he bled out for days before the mad scientist decided that it was enough. There was still a slick scar on his thigh, glaring up at him whenever he took a shower or got undressed. When he arrived in the labs, dread overcame him once again, but then…

He spotted a mousy, nerdy-looking trainee taking noted next to a large red cat's cage, his forehead slick with sweat. He cleared his throat to get his attention. The trainee squeaked and his open turned to saucers when he spotted the infamous General standing behind him, nearly twice his size.

"Can I h-help you, Sir?" he squealed.

"Is there a hospital in the slums?"

The trainee blinked in surprise before humming in thought and pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.

"I don't think so, sir. Nobody's ever given it much thought. Slum residents…they're not worth much, sir."

Sephiroth ignored most of his answer.

"Is there a hospital up here that'll take one of them?"

The trainee hummed again. It was downright annoying.

"Nope, none. The lab is like a free hospital for anyone who joins the military, but if that person isn't in the program then he'll have to look elsewhere for medical care…Sir."

Without another word, Sephiroth smashed down on the elevator button and climbed in, pensive. The trainee had his eyes glued on his until the elevator doors closed, still sweating.

"You smell disgusting, human. Go wash."

The trainee turned to face the red cat, frowning, and clicked his tongue.

"Shut up, Red XIII."

The cat growled but, knowing he'd be unable to harm the little scientist, curled into a ball on one side of the cage and fell promptly asleep, dreaming of his hometown.

**This is a well defined line**

When the gym teacher came to tell Cloud he had visitors, the blonde's first instinct was to laugh as though it was a great joke. When the gym teacher insisted, he exchanged puzzled glances with Blue before following the burly, underpaid teacher out of the classroom. It was nearly lunchtime and his stomach growled appreciatively as he neared the cafeteria. Macaroni day.

"Who'da thought you'd get vi'stors?" the teacher muttered in a vocabulary that was purely from the slums. Even the English teacher spoke like a bar wench. "Who's it?"

Cloud shrugged. "Dunno."

When the entered the lobby, Cloud's face broke into a smile when he saw a tall silver-haired man standing erect near the door, glaring at the dirty floor planks as though he'd like nothing more than to burn them to ashes. He was wearing his work uniform but his hair was tied back, something Cloud figured was a rare sight. Only his bangs lay close to his cheeks, framing his face neatly.

As Cloud neared his visitor, he noticed that the General had not come alone. There was a soldier whom Cloud recognized, a dark-skinned man carrying a broadsword and, to his utter shock, the green-eyed girl he'd met at the crummy restaurant. She seemed equally surprised to see him but shot him a large smile when the initial shock wore off. Sephiroth took a confident step towards them and dismissed the disgruntled gym teacher. The man left with only a huff and a bit of whispered swearing under his breath.

"It's a pleasure to see you again," Sephiroth stated clearly, a bit too formally for Cloud's taste.

"Right back at you…"

"Hey! How's it going, Spiky?" the other soldier yelled out with blunt familiarity. Cloud blushed at the friendly nickname and shot Sephiroth a questioning glance.

"This is Zack," he pointed to the giddy dark-skinned man "And that's Aerith. But you already knew that."

"Yeah…hey," he addressed the group in general, "What…are you guys doing here?"

"We're here on a super top secret recruiting mission! You, Spiky, are being recruited."

Aerith giggled and tugged on her boyfriend's hand while Sephiroth appeared somewhat uncomfortable. However, it seemed as though he was on board with this, so Cloud decided to hear them out.

"I dunno…I'm not very strong or smart. I wanted to be an artist…"

"If you join, you'll get to fill in free spots on your schedule while you're a cadet. Most people pick workout, a few pick medical training, but you can also pick art. It's all free, of course," Zack answered cheerfully.

Wait…free art training? Why hadn't he ever heard of this? This was…starting to sound very, very tempting. Maybe he'd end up liking the military.

_I mean, how much worse can it possibly get?_

"I…" Sephiroth paused and Cloud was sure, utterly and totally sure, that he saw a bit of red taint the cheeks of the perfectly stoic General, "I checked and the program is as good, if not better, than any else in the world. You might not learn as fast but…"

"I can really join?"

Sephiroth was, in a word, stunned that he'd convinced the shy blonde so easily to join the military. Last time they'd talk it hadn't been an option in Cloud's mind, and now he was on board. Sephiroth felt his heart skip a beat and fought off the urge to hug the future cadet to his chest. He was no fuzzy teddy bear – besides, Cloud was would probably struggle…right?

"If you want to, of course."

Zack retrieved a stack of paper from his bag and borrowed a pen from the receptionist's desk, which happened to be vacant. He handed Cloud the files, still grinning excitedly like a puppy, and returned to his girlfriend's side.

"You have to fill those out…shouldn't take too long. We'll wait."

Cloud stopped reading the files and looked up.

"You're taking me now?" he whispered, somewhat awe-struck.

"Of course! Seph insisted that we not wait another d-"

He was shut up as Sephiroth kicked him upside the head and the poor second-in-command fell to the floor, knocked out. Aerith sighed and dragged his body where it wouldn't trip anyone while Sephiroth fumed, face even redder than before. Unfortunately for him, Cloud had understood what Zack was saying and smiled brightly. He filled out the files at monstrous speed, fuelled by his pumping heart and his sudden burst of happiness, and in just under twenty minutes he was done and Zack was standing up slowly, swearing and clutching the bleeding side of his head. Sephiroth took the papers out of Cloud's hand, and their fingers brushed together briefly, leaving both of their hands tingling. For a minute or so they didn't move, just stood in front of each other awkwardly, oblivious to the rest of the world.

"…Earth to lover boys."

"Zack, shush, look at how cute they are!"

The word 'cute' snapped Sephiroth out of his daze. He shoved the papers in Zack's arms and stood near the door in his most imperious stance ever.

"Ready to go?"

"I have to…get…my stuff?" he offered. Sephiroth blinked.

"Oh…of course."

When Cloud reached his room, the school bell had just rung, signalling that it was lunchtime. Cloud listened to his classmates' footsteps in the hallway and felt an odd sense of attachment to them. Sure, most of them hated his guts and he hated their back but…they'd all lived in the same hell for a while now. What if he was hated even more in the military? He was small and lanky and weak; definitely not Shinra material. He might get pushed around by thousands of burly men all day and night like a little rag doll, unable to stand up for himself properly. He hadn't even talked it over with his mom about it…and what about Blue? His only friend.

_Oh…speak of the devil._

The door swung open and the smell of nicotine filled Cloud's nostrils and lungs. He coughed slightly, as was his custom, and began to shove clothes and other things into his old luggage, unable to meet Blue's eyes.

"Going somewhere, Johnny? I saw the General in the lobby. You going to live with that asshole?" he hissed.

Cloud froze in the middle of packing his underwear and turned to face the disgruntled teenager who stood near his bed, arms crossed over his chest.

"For your information, I'm joining the military. They just came to bring me to where I'll be staying. They have an art program…isn't that great?" he chirped.

"Is that how they recruit people now? They send their handsome men to seduce the possible recruits over? That's classy of them." He smirked, chewing on the end of a cigarette.

"Says the chain-smoking, manipulative thug," he spat angrily, finishing his packing and throwing the bag over his trembling shoulder.

Blue had been his only friend since he'd left Nibelheim and Tifa. Except for the occasional teasing and the damaging of his lungs with all the smoke he produced, he'd been a good one. Ever since the fieldtrip to Midgar, he'd been impatient, angry and awkward every time Cloud walked into a room and they hung out less and less. Cloud fought back tears as he made his way to the door, stopping just before he crossed the threshold, watching his socks. They were mismatched again.

"I'll come and visit you," said Cloud, chewing wildly on his gum.

"No need, Cloud. We'll meet again."

When Cloud turned to ask him what he meant, he found that his blue-haired friend had hoped out of the window after scooping up his phone. He realized that Blue had used his real name for the first time since their meeting, and he felt as though it was important but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why that was.

When he rejoined the Shinra men and Aerith, he had tears swimming in his blue eyes. When Sephiroth asked him what was wrong, he simply shook his head and insisted that they get going. His three companions exchanged confused looks before following the upset boy out into the cold air, and then into the Turk-driven car.

"Back to headquarters, sir?" Mark asked, adjusting the side mirror of the car.

"Yes."

The car sped off, unaware of a set of angry eyes shooting daggers at it from the tumbling roof of the school.

**This is a well defined line**

On his first day, he was introduced to the much more stylish and manly uniform that the Shinra cadets wore, the considerably edible cafeteria food, the very warm clothes and, most importantly, the nice pay check he would get every time he got back from a mission. Compensation, Sephiroth told him. For endangering his life in any way. On that first day he didn't find the courage to call his mother and tell her about his new career path. He told himself it didn't matter if he waited a few more days. As for his room, he was surprised to learn that he wouldn't be sharing it with anyone and it was all his to trash freely.

On the second day he was introduced to his classmates and his new classes, which were infinitely more interesting that the boring math, English, gym and history classes he'd attended at the slum's school. As for his classmates, while he got to know none in particular, they didn't pay him any particular attention and he was quite fine with that. There were even a couple who were undoubtedly shorter than him, and that set his mind at ease. He still didn't call his mother.

On the third day he had his second combat training class, which was trained by the silver-haired General himself that day because the teacher was sick. Cloud then got a sense of what Zack had meant on that fateful day when he'd said that Sephiroth was much more impressive than himself. After that class came lunchtime, and he ended up having lunch with the General in the cafeteria who admitted that he never ate there, even when he was a cadet himself. They had pizza and lukewarm coffee. He forgot his mother again.

On the fourth day he wormed his way into a group of four cadets during physical training, all of whom were taller and stronger than him, but they didn't mention it. Once the glass ended they went to a little café to snack and invited Cloud, who tagged along cheerfully. He had a soda mixed with cherry syrup, something he'd never tried previously and loved. He had his first art class and felt himself getting closer to his goal of being an artist. He found himself drawing a tall figure with silver hair. No calls to Nibelheim.

On the fifth day he had the whole day off and nothing to do. In his boredom he decided to explore the other floors and ended up close to the executive gym on the 68th floor. He didn't have the clearance to enter the gym so he simply watched from the outside, face pressed against the glass. He saw a rather fat, hairy man running for his life on a treadmill and chuckled, oblivious to the shadow looming over him.

"You want to go in?"

Cloud jumped and pivoted to face the man behind him, bowing instantly without taking note of who was in front of him. Was he in trouble? Probably.

"Cloud…?"

The blonde cadet recognized that hard yet smooth voice that belonged to Sephiroth and he relaxed, shoulders slacking.

"Oh…I thought it was someone else, sir." He'd taken to saying sir now that he was in the army. Sephiroth was, in fact, so much higher up in rank than him that talking to him was probably illegal.

"I can leave if you'd rather watch Heideggar sweat on the treadmill."

"Ah, no, sir," he sighed in relief. "Did you need something…sir?"

"Actually…have you gone to the labs yet? All cadets are submitted for an obligatory medical examination when they start out."

Cloud shook his head.

"It's next week."

"Oh," the General mumbled dumbly.

"Why?"

"No reason…"

Cloud waited for him to continue, but when he didn't he took the lead.

"What were you doing here, sir?"

"Looking for something that escaped from the labs," he announced in his sudden General-voice, which was stony and cold and serious. "A big red cat. It…talks. You should head back to your room, it's dangerous enough of a beast to make one bite out of you if it has a good enough reason."

The thought of returning to his room to flick the tv channels for hours didn't particularly appeal to him, so instead he caught the General's hand as the man walked away. His face turned red when he realized what he was doing bit he didn't let go, only met the man's eyes with his own.

"Let me go with you?"

"Are you going to protect me?" Sephiroth purred, amused. Cloud blushed even more.

"Of course…sir. With my life!"

Convinced that he'd be able to keep the little cadet safe no matter what, Sephiroth agreed for him to tag along. They headed to the 53rd floor where the cat had been last spotted, Sephiroth keeping one hand near Masamune's hilt. Cloud was staring at it wide-eyed.

"Wow…that's a really long sword, sir."

One of the executives on the elevator with them, facing away, choked on a mouthful of coffee and turned to stare at them. When he saw that they were staring at him oddly, fully clothed, he lowered his head and got off at the next floor. Cloud giggled behind his hand while the General struggled to understand what had just happened.

The 53rd floor was trashed. It was usually filled with neat little desks where properly dressed workers filed things away, copied important documents and sent e-mails to whomever they worked for. Now all the papers lay on the floor, footprints all over their white surface, crumpled and balled up. No workers in sight. A computer had been knocked to the ground in the process and was spitting sparks in the air, fuming silently. There was no sign of blood or claw marks, however.

"Red XIII isn't a bloodthirsty beast, according to his keepers…the workers probably just got scared and ran away," sighed the silver-haired General.

They followed the wreck down a series of hallways without ever spotting the cat or any workers. Cloud sniffled a bit when the smoke from another ruined computer entered his lungs, but they were otherwise as quiet as mice. They hit a dead-end in the large break room, which was the only place that wasn't trashed.

"Ummm…maybe he went to another floor?" Cloud offered.

"Maybe…" he grumbled.

"Who went to another floor?"

Both men turned around, Cloud as quickly as he could and Sephiroth at inhumane speed. Within a second he had whipped Masamune out of its hilt and the cold blade was pressed against a fur-coated throat. As for Cloud, he forgot all caution as he observed the odd creature in front of him.

It was, indeed, a big talking cat. Its long tail ended in a real burning flame that didn't seem to be hurting it at all. Its eyes were intelligent and followed the two men's movements intently, ignoring the blade pressed to its body.

"We were looking for you, Red," Sephiroth explained politely while still keeping Masamune where it was.

"I just wanted to go for a walk."

"I know."

The two eyed one another without any true hostility. Sephiroth knew what it was like to be confined to a cage, unable to get even the most basic rights such as walking freely and going to the bathroom in…well, a bathroom. Red had been in the labs for five years, about as long as Sephiroth had finally been allowed to move out.

"Shall we go back?" the cat offered after a long pause.

_What an awesome kitty!_ Cloud mentally squealed.

"Of course."

Cloud once again stopped Sephiroth by grabbing his hand and tugging on it.

"Cloud…?"

"Can I keep him?"

…

"What?" the General and the cat asked simultaneously.

"I mean, can I keep him? There's loads of room in my dorm since I don't have a roommate…" he explained, smiling sweetly at the General. Sephiroth's eyes widened, refusing to believe that the sweet blonde cadet was trying the puppy-dog look on him. He was not so weak as to fall for that!

"You can't, Cloud. He's a catalogued lab experiment."

"And what are they using him for? Doesn't he just sit in the cage all day long?"

"That is, indeed, what transpires," Red agreed, tail flicking in amusement. "Hojo enjoys poking and prodding his experiments to see how hard they'll scream."

Sephiroth was stiffer than usual when Cloud brought his attention back to the man. His face looked…sour.

"They won't miss him," Cloud insisted.

"Hojo will throw a fit," Sephiroth sighed.

"That he will," Red agreed once more.

"You're the _General. _The executives will give you anything you want, Sephiroth!"

"True."

Sephiroth wanted to tell the cat to shut up, but he still too caught up with Cloud's big, emotional blue eyes staring up at him, pleading, and begging. All it would take was a cat to make him happy…just a big, red, talking cat.

"I…okay," he finally agreed.

Cloud smiled widely and, in an act of sudden relief, threw his arms around Sephiroth's neck and hugged him tightly, pressing his face into the juncture of his neck. Sephiroth awkwardly wrapped his arms around him in response, aware of the cat's amused eyes glued to his face, and discreetly pressed his nose against Cloud's hair. It smelled light and sweet and a little bit like strawberries.

When they both pulled away, Cloud was as red as a tomato and breathing rather deeply, as if out of breath. Before they could say a word, Red hurried them on, worried about Hojo's reaction.

**This is a well defined line**

"So…that's my bed. And that's the tv, and that's the closet. What's mine is yours, so…"

Red XIII curled his tail around his front paws and stayed where he sat on top of Cloud's bed. He kept the flame at the tip of his tail well away from any of Cloud's possessions and purred warmly when his new 'master' handed him a bleeding raw steak.

It took little to get Hojo to hand the cat over, but it took a lot of patience to listen to all of the man's bitching. Sephiroth had warned Cloud not to enter the lab while he was still inside talking to the professor, and Sephiroth had come out an hour and a half later, looking ready to murder someone in cold blood. Hojo had no choice, however, because Shinra wanted all of Sephiroth's support for the upcoming mega mission so he was ready to give him anything. Cloud had hugged the man again as thanks, but he hadn't had the courage to outright kiss him…

_I'm a coward. A weird coward._

"If you want to go out, feel free to do that…just, maybe you shouldn't take the executive elevator. I don't think they like you Red."

"I'll do just that," the cat meowed, pawing the mattress thoughtfully, licking blood off his whiskers.

"I get the feeling I'm forgetting something," the cadet sighed angrily, scratching his head. Red eyed him a while before pointing to his nightstand with his muzzle.

"This paper says 'call mom'. Is that what you've forgotten?"

Cloud groaned.

"Fuck, mom…"

Red half roared, half meowed as an answer.


End file.
